~~Rumble in the arena~~

Here in the Midwest there is a popular car racing event called figure 8 racing. Yes, the cars race around in a figure 8 and try not to crash or kill each other. This particular event was held inside a horse arena so there was NOT MUCH ROOM.  The only other times I had seen figure 8 racing it was on an actual dirt track and much much larger.  Even with the tight space they had up to 7 cars in a heat! A heat is a qualifying race to get into the final race where the $$$$ is paid out.

Let's go back to earlier in the evening...

The evening starts out that Ann had to babysit so the "boys" wanted to do something special. When I say boys, I mean my wonderful husband and my two boys. I was not at all interested in going out again as I had been running kids here and there and had been doing errands all day. I wanted to stay home, build a fire in the firepit and enjoy being home. Well as you see from this blog the boys won. They suggested doing something boring like go to a movie. I said no way, if I am going out we are doing something different. We are going to the races.

ALL 3 of them looked at me like I was from Pluto.

Really, these are supposedly men/boys with testosterone. Why wouldn't they like cars and crashes and loud engines with straight pipe exhaust????? I was stumped.  I had the oldest one (husband) even post to FaceBook what a stupid idea it was.  John was going to bring a book to read. Only Vern was mildly interested and open to the idea.  I am shaking my head in wonderment. How can I be the "girl" and be excited to be going? I had not been to the races since I was in high school and that was a longggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg time ago!

After further investigation it was revealed none of them had ever been to a race like this before. I was surprised the husband had not as he grew up in the midwest. Maybe he just says he likes cars as he drove a tiny "Golf" when I met him...Oops, digressing.

So we get there, find our seats and settle in for the races. Here is a pre-race photo. They are pretending to be excited but John was bemoaning how he didn't fit in and only red-necks were there. I looked at them and said your mom is a redneck???? I hardly think so. They shut up.

Finally the first heat started. They brought out 7 cars and we each picked one to cheer for the win.  They went around the track once, had a huge crash and 4 of the 7 cars had to be hauled off the track with tractors! What a way to begin.  Those 3 remaining cars finished the race (10 laps) and the boys were hooked. Y-E-S!

Vern began chattering non-stop. The husband began naming all the kinds of cars coming out for the next heat and even John sat there interested, talking and asking questions.  I was smiling from ear to ear.  Here is a shot from one of the first heats in open class. Open class is where anyone with a car and the car set up correctly can enter the race.

Those cars raced around the track and tossed mud at us. Vern could not stop talking and asking questions and having a blast. I gave them all some $$ and sent them to the consession stand during a fix the track break and they came back with even bigger smiles. A little junk food goes a long way with boys. The husband brought me a beer so I was in heaven on earth - cold beer, loud rumbling engines, and my favorite men in the world around me.

After the open class was the official racing class. These cars had bigger engines that ran on racing fuel and their exhausts were straight pipes out of the engine. Here is a photo of this class.

The races were great and the evening fabulous except for one small thing. I found out too late that I could have entered the powder puff race after the main race!!!! The powder puff race is where girls get into the feature race cars and go around a few times for a small prize.  I so would have done it and fulfilled one of my bucket list items. Maybe next time...

Vern had such a great time he drempt about it that night and is still talking about them days later. He wants to go see a demolition derby next. He was looking those up on the internet to find out where they were.  I'm glad my men do have testosterone even if I have to drag it out of them. :-)